Not perfectly on topic, but, as a devoted skype user, and a big fan of google, I wonder: Skype in effect has video and voice chat. So now apparently has gmail. So is the big difference the phone number you can get with skype that allows you to call folks who are not signed up to skype? And that allows them to call your skype number from a regular phone? In short, I wonder if a skype user would be much advantaged by gmail's voice chat?

Unless the other person had an aversion to installing skype, I'm not sure what the difference would be. There's an old saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it". My friends that want to chat with me understand I do not run windows therefore, skype is the answer. Your opinions however may vary.